Burnt Orange Report

Iowa Bound

By Byron LaMasters

Well, I'm not, but BOR poster Jim D. is. He's one of several hundred Texans who is going to Iowa or New Hampshire for the weekend to be a "Dean Texas Ranger". And no, being a "Dean Ranger" doesn't require bundling $200,000. All it requires is sacrificing a weekend to support the good doctor. I'm not able to make it for the weekend, because I'll be working tonight, and to be perfectly honest, I'm a little less enthusiastic about the Dean campaign than I was several months ago. I think that Dean had the right message for the Spring of 2003, but I'm not quite sure if it's the right message to win next November. Unfortunately, there's no candidate out there that just grabs me, though, and I'm not longing for Al Gore or Hillary Clinton to jump in the race either. Of the other candidates, the only other candidate that I'm really drawn to is Wesley Clark, but things like this and this obviously concern me. So, basically you can put me on the record as currently leaning Dean, but my support is much softer than before. I've officially resigned from various volunteer roles (Students for Dean, Longhorns for Dean, etc.) that I've held with the campaign, although the Dean campaign still lists me as the UT contact (even though I've emailed them and told them I am no longer the UT contact). I'm sure that it will be worked out eventually. Anyway, I look forward to hearing Jim's comments on the Iowa / New Hampshire trip. Whether you're a Dean supporter or not, you have to like the contrast Dean makes between his grassroots Rangers and Bush's Enron / Worldcom / Halliburton millionaire cash-bundling Rangers.

Update: Dean Texas Ranger Melissa Taylor will be blogging her trip to New Hampshire this weekend.

Update: A bunch of other friends of mine will be in Iowa this weekend. I'm sure that Karl will blog on the trip when he returns. You can help Karl raise money for Howard Dean, here.